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Most Louisiana voucher schools in compliance with using taxpayer dollars, auditors find

Oakwood mall voucher meeting.jpg

Jamie Foley of Metairie and her son Michael Williams, 5, check out the information during a community meeting by the Louisiana Department of Education on the new Louisiana Scholarship Program held at Oakwood Mall in Gretna in 2012.
(Susan Poag / The Times-Picayune)

New audits released on Friday have found that out of the 117 schools participating in the state's student voucher program, officially the Louisiana Scholarship Program, only one violated rules for using taxpayer money. New Living Word School in Ruston was overcharging tuition for voucher students, auditors said.

Last year, the voucher program was funded through the Minimum Foundation Program, an allocation of state money that seeks to fund each student a "minimum foundation" of education in a local school system. The money follows students who chose to use a voucher to attend a private school.

Participating private schools were required to comply with a state Board of Elementary and Secondary Education policy that restricts state money to education. Tuition and fees charged to the voucher program must not exceed tuition and fees charged to non-voucher students.

In reports released Friday by the state Department of Education, however, auditors found that the New Living Word School had been overcharging tuition to the voucher program. The school has said tuition charged to non-voucher students is paid partially not in money but in donations of goods and services and therefore could not be compared to what was charged to the voucher program. After an analysis however, auditors found the school's assertion insufficient for the amounts it was charging the state.

"It is our interpretation that the regulations do not allow for in-kind contributions in determining whether the tuition charged to the scholarship program is less than or equal to the tuition charged to non-scholarship program students," the audit said.

The Department of Education said it removing the school from the voucher program.

"These findings are evidence that the oversight process is working and that there will be zero tolerance for fiscal mismanagement of taxpayer dollars," Superintendent John White said.

Full results of the audits, conducted by Postlethwaite & Netterville and Provost, Salter, Harper & Alford, LLC may be found here and here.

The state department said it will be contacting parents of voucher students attending New Living Word School to discuss options for the 2013-14 year. A letter from the auditor to the New Living Word School can be found here.